Page 48 of Tiger Queen
Determined to do something tonight, I changed out of my pajamas and left the house.
The night was filled with crickets and other night insects as I walked down the path to the zoo. I had not brought a flashlight, but the moonlight was bright enough to keep me from twisting my ankle on the uneven ground.
The zoo itself was creepy at night. The animals were totally silent in their cages. I could feel them watching me in the darkness, wondering why I was there. It made me feel like an intruder. This was their private time without any humans, and I didn’t belong.
I imagined being stalked by a tiger in India. Knowing that they were watching me from the darkness but not knowing where they were. It sent a shiver up my spine that had nothing to do with the evening chill.
The glow was coming from the back end of the zoo. There was a sort of scrapyard back there filled with broken machinery and various other zoo equipment or materials that Crazy Carl had been too lazy to properly dispose of. As I neared, the harsh light reflected off the metal and cast long shadows across the ground.
Jake was hunched over a piece of metal. The device in his hand was connected to a long hose, and it flashed with such powerful brightness that I cried out with surprise and turned away. Even after looking away my eyes stung and a greenish afterglow remained in my vision when I blinked.
“What are you doing here?” Jake asked in a deep voice.
I blinked rapidly until he came into view. He was wearing his sunglasses and cotton beanie, but was shirtless and covered with sweat. The tattoos on his chest and arms glistened in the moonlight.
“Sunglasses aren’t proper protection against a carbon arc torch,” I said. “You need a welding mask.”
“These sunglasses work fine while it’s on the lowest setting.” He hefted the welding device. “How do you know what this is?”
“I’ve seen Flashdance.”
“Flash what?”
“Cheesy eighties movie? Girl wants to become a dancer?”
He made a face. “What’s that have to do with arc welders?”
“Nevermind. What are you doing out here?”
“None of your business.”
I glanced at what he had been working on. It didn’t look like anything that could be used at the zoo. “It would help if you and I were on the same page.”
Jake barked a laugh. “Whatever you say.” He turned back to his work, but I approached quickly and got in his face.
“I don’t understand why you’re so combative about everything.”
“Combative? I—”
“No,” I said like he was a bad dog. “I’m talking now. You’ve been combative about everything since you showed up. You argue with David and drag your feet. When we need help, you’re nowhere to be found. And you’re off here in the scrapyard doing God-knows-what. You might as well have not returned at all.”
His sunglasses made him look impassive. “Are you done speaking?”
“Yes I am. I just wanted to say that you’re not a team player.”
“Maybe I don’t think we’re on the same team.”
I sucked in my breath and had to struggle not to start yelling again. “This is a lot of change all at once. I get that. You think we’re dismantling your father’s legacy, and I’m just some outsider who showed up to help in that endeavor. But it’s for the best. The animals need to be moved to real homes.”
“If you say so.”
“I know you don’t care about these animals, but you should know that more than anyone since you worked here longer than David or Anthony. Do me a favor. Answer this question, and be totally honest. Did Crazy Carl—your father—give these animals a good home? Tell me with a straight face that caring for the animals was his primary concern.”
He shrugged and resumed his welding, forcing me to turn away and flee from the terrible harsh light.
I was angry enough to punch a hole in the wall when I got back to my room. I couldn’t sleep so I pulled up videos of Crazy Carl on YouTube. There were dozens of commercials where he was doing crazy things with guns or fireworks, but there was some more candid video as well. Hidden camera style footage where Carl was yelling and cussing at the animals. In one of them Carl was trying to get the wolves to come out for a celebrity visitor, and when they didn’t appear he hurled his flashlight into the enclosure. It smashed against a tree and exploded in a shower of plastic and batteries. Another video showed him taking newborn tiger cubs from a mother and bragging, “You know what this is? Twenty grand. I’m holdin’ twenty grand, baby!”
It helped reiterate that I was doing the right thing.